Recent Commentaries

I contend that we are educated as Christians way beyond our level of obedience. John Maxwell said, “What would happen if, after I finished a Sunday morning sermon and gave an application, we didn’t have church again until people did something about it? (Some people I wou …

David meets Ziba, the servant of Methibosheth, as he starts down the backside of the Mount of Olives (v. 1). Ziba had two donkeys that were carrying 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 figs, and some wine. David asked him who all of this was for and he replied that …

Exodus records Israel’s birth as a nation. During their time in Egypt, one Hebrew family of seventy persons rapidly multiplies. This small group of people develops into an infant nation numbering between two and three million who God protects, feeds and nurtures. The key fi …

Most of his messages from chapters 7-20 were delivered during the reign of Jehoiakim. King Josiah had led the nation in a reformation during which he restored the temple and removed idols from the land. In 609 he was wounded in battle near Megiddo and taken to Jerusalem where he …

Even the dead would not escape God’s judgment. Jeremiah describes how the enemy will desecrate the graves which was a common practice in the warfare of that day. The bones of those who had died before the fall of Jerusalem would be removed from their graves and exposed to t …

Two years after Amnon rapes Tamar, Absalom the brother of Amnon decides it is the right time to get revenge for the rape of his sister Tamar (vv. 23-24). He chooses the season of sheep shearing as a suitable backdrop for the murder of his brother Amnon. Absalom invites the king, w …

The Lord gave Moses these instructions for Aaron’s sons, the priests: Touching a dead body will make you unclean (v. 1). So don’t go near a dead relative, except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother (v. 2), or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of …

To be wise is to be under God’s “seeing eyes” of protection (v. 12). To be unwise and treacherous, even in what one says, is to be on a path that will end in frustration. The lazy person has all kinds of excuses for not wanting to work (v. 13). When no dangers or difficulties exist, he imagines them …

In this chapter we also find some additional facts about the New Jerusalem. The angel showed John the river of the water of life which was clear as crystal as it flowed from the throne of God (v. 1). The water flows as a stream down the middle of the street, which apparently refers to the …

Jesus begins to speak to the people in parables (v. 1). He tells how an owner rented his vineyard out to tenant farmers or vine-dressers on a crop basis and then he went to stay in another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to collect his share of the crop. Instead of sharing …